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10 Tipping Points Which Could Potentially Plunge The World Into A Horrific Economic Nightmare

By Michael Snyder, on June 7th, 2011

The global economy has become so incredibly unstable at this point that it is not going to take much to plunge the world into a horrific economic nightmare. The foundations of the world economic system are so decayed and so corrupted that even a stiff breeze could potentially topple the entire structure over. Over the past couple of months a constant parade of bad economic news has come streaming in from Europe, Asia and the United States. Signs of an impending economic slowdown are everywhere. So what “tipping point” will trigger the next global economic downturn? Nobody knows for sure, but potential tipping points are all around us.

Today, the global economic system is even more vulnerable than it was back in 2008. Virtually none of the systemic problems that contributed to the 2008 collapse have been fixed.

“There is definitely going to be another financial crisis around the corner because we haven’t solved any of the things that caused the previous crisis.”

The “financial reform” law that Barack Obama and the Congress passed a while back was a complete and total joke. They might as well have written the law on toilet paper for all the good that it is doing.

We did not learn from our mistakes and our future economic lessons are going to be even more painful.

The world is drowning in a mountain of debt, the global financial system is packed to the gills with toxic derivatives, everyone is leveraged to the hilt and the dominoes could start falling at any time.

I am not the only one that is warning that another financial collapse is coming. In fact, a whole lot of people have been warning about the next financial collapse lately.

So what will the tipping point for the next collapse be?

The following are some potential nominees….

Tipping Point #1: Syria

Syria is a situation to watch very, very closely. The Syrian government is in a lot of trouble right now. Sadly, the instability inside Syria probably makes war with Israel even more likely.

Make no mistake – a war between Israel and Syria has been brewing for a long, long time and at some point it will happen. When it happens, the entire Middle East may erupt in warfare.

Just the other day, a very troubling incident happened in the area around the Golan Heights. The following is an excerpt from a report by The Daily Mail about the incident….

“About 20 pro-Palestinian demonstrators were killed and 325 injured yesterday when Israeli forces opened fire on them as they crossed the border from Syria into occupied territories, according to reports.”

At this point, the Syrian government is probably glad that the attention has been taken off of them at least for a while. The Syrian government has been getting a lot of bad press lately. The following is an excerpt from a recent report by Human Rights Watch about the treatment of protesters inside Syria….

“The methods of torture included prolonged beatings with sticks, twisted wires, and other devices; electric shocks administered with Tasers and electric batons; use of improvised metal and wooden ‘racks'; and, in at least one case documented by Human Rights Watch, the rape of a male detainee with a baton.

“Interrogators and guards also subjected detainees to various forms of humiliating treatment, such as urinating on the detainees, stepping on their faces, and making them kiss the officers’ shoes. Several detainees said they were repeatedly threatened with imminent execution.”

So in light of the “precedent” that we recently set in Libya, does this mean that we will be “forced” to conduct a “humanitarian mission” inside Syria as well?

Syria is one tipping point that we all need to keep a close eye on.

Tipping Point #2: Iran

The Iranian nuclear program is in the news again. A new report by RAND Corporation researcher Gregory S. Jones claims that Iran could have a nuclear weapon within 2 months. His report is based on recent findings by the International Atomic Energy Agency. According to Jones, airstrikes alone would be incapable of stopping Iran’s nuclear weapons program at this point. Instead, Jones says that a “military occupation” would be required.

It is a minor miracle that a war with Iran has not erupted yet. It seems almost inevitable that at some point either the United States or Israel will use military force to try to stop Iran’s nuclear program.

When that happens, it is going to cause a major shock to the global economy.

Tipping Point #3: Libya

NATO has made it abundantly clear that Moammar Gadhafi will no longer be tolerated. In fact, NATO apparently plans to reduce Tripoli to a heap of smoking ruins if that is what it takes to bring about the fall of Gadhafi.

What a “humanitarian mission” we have going in Libya, eh? It turns out that NATO believes that the United Nations gave it permission to bomb television stations and to make attack runs with helicopters.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov recently said that by using attack helicopters, NATO has moved dangerously close to turning the Libya operation into a ground invasion….

“Using attack helicopters, in my view, is the last but one step before the land operation.”

So why is Libya a potential tipping point?

It isn’t because Gadhafi is a threat. He is toast.

It is because the rest of the world is watching what is happening in Libya, and that is raising global tensions.

Even if Gadhafi falls, the Libyan operation will still be a failure because it has brought us all significantly closer to World War III.

Tipping Point #4: More Revolutions In The Middle East

The revolutions throughout the Middle East earlier this year sent oil prices absolutely skyrocketing and they have remained at elevated levels.

And in case you haven’t noticed, revolutions continue to sweep the Middle East.

The economic impact of the Fukushima disaster is going to continue to unfold over an extended period of time. It turns out that Japan is now officially in a recession. Their economy contracted at a 3.7 percent annualized rate during the first quarter.

Look for more bad economic numbers to come out of Japan for the rest of the year. Considering the fact that the Japanese economy is the third largest economy in the world, the fact that they are struggling so badly right now is not a good sign for the rest of us.

Tipping Point #6: Oil Prices

The price of oil is going to continue to be one of the biggest economic stories for the rest of this year and for 2012 as well.

The last time U.S. energy expenditures were over 9 percent of GDP was in 2008 and we quickly plunged into the deepest economic downturn since the Great Depression.

Well, we have reached the significant 9 percent figure once again in 2011, and many fear that once again high oil prices will cause another major economic decline.

Tipping Point #7: Government Austerity

In the United States, it is not just the federal government that is drowning in debt.

All over America, there are state and local governments that are financial basket cases.

I don’t always agree with the time frames that Meredith Whitney puts out there, but she is absolutely correct that we are going to see a massive municipal bond crisis. The following is an excerpt from a recent report about Whitney’s predictions on CNN….

“Meredith Whitney is issuing a fresh warning to mutual funds, banks, and politicians: The state of state finances is far worse than what you think, or at least than what you’ve been willing to tell the investors and taxpayers who will eventually carry the burden.”

Many state and local governments are attempting to get their budgets balanced by making huge budget cuts. But most of the time these austerity programs also include the elimination of a lot of government jobs.

UBS Investment Research is projecting that state and local governments will combine to slash a whopping 450,000 jobs by the end of next year.

So where will the half a million good jobs come from to replace all of those lost jobs?

Tipping Point #8: The European Sovereign Debt Crisis

Greece is just the tip of the iceberg in Europe.

Moody’s downgraded Greek debt again last Wednesday. This time Moody’s downgraded Greek debt by three levels all the way down to Caa1. At this point, the yield on 10-year Greek bonds is over 15 percent.

The EU has been going crazy trying to deal with the Greek debt crisis. The truth is that a default by the Greek government would be absolutely catastrophic. If you do not understand the kind of chaos a Greek default would set off on world financial markets, just read this editorial.

But Greece is not the only major European nation with a massive debt problem.

The sad truth is that faith in the U.S. dollar and in U.S. Treasuries is rapidly declining. The mainstream news is not reporting on it much, but right now the Chinese are rapidly dumping U.S. government debt.

As the dollar declines, so will the purchasing power of average Americans. We are already seeing a tremendous amount of inflation in 2011.

But this is just the beginning.

A lot worse is going to be coming down the road.

Tipping Point #10: Drought

A lot of people that read my articles doubt that we will ever see a major global food crisis.

But one is coming.

It is just a matter of time.

Even now, many areas of the world are experiencing very serious droughts. The following is from a recent Bloomberg article….

Parts of China, the biggest grower, had the least rain in a century, some European regions are the driest in 50 years and almost half the winter-wheat crop in the U.S., the largest exporter, is rated poor or worse. Inventory is dropping 8.8 percent, the most in five years, Rabobank International says. Prices will advance 20 percent to as high as $9.25 a bushel by Dec. 31, a Bloomberg survey of 14 analysts and traders shows.

Are you concerned yet?

You should be.

But if you prefer some mindless pablum that will make you feel better, we have some of that for you too.

“We definitely hit a slower patch, but I think the basic fact that the terrible financial strains we had are abating, remains in place, and I expect this recovery to continue for a substantial period of time.”

Does that make you feel better?

Larry Summers says that everything is going to be okay.

It would be great if Summers was actually right, but sadly he is not.

In fact, the worst economic times that America has ever seen are ahead.

First you have financial collapse, which is basically the volume of debt that has to be taken on in order for the economy to continue functioning, cannot continue. We’re seeing that right now in Greece, we’re probably going to see that in Japan, we’re definitely at a point now in the United States where even if you raised the income tax to 100 percent, there’s absolutely no way of covering the liabilities of the U.S. federal government. So, we’re at that point now but the workout of the financial collapse is not all quite there. We don’t quite have a worthless currency but that’s in the works.

That, of course, is followed by commercial collapse especially in a country like the United States that imports two thirds of its oil. A lot of that is on credit and if a little bit of that oil goes missing then the economy starts to fall apart because nothing moves unless you burn oil in the United States and, of course, a lot of goods that are sold everywhere are imported again, on credit.

When the U.S. dollar dies and our financial system collapses we are not going to be able to get all of the things that we need from the rest of the world so cheaply any longer.

That is going to cause fundamental changes inside the United States.

Right now, the economic news just seems to get worse and worse, but this is just the beginning.

What is eventually going to happen in this country is going to be so nightmarish that most Americans could not even imagine it right now.

So are our leaders doing anything to prepare for the coming economic crisis?

For just one example you quote an ISRAELI news article about Iran claiming it will have nuclear bombs in 2 months…yet the IAEA don’t make such claims.

Granite Prepper

If you read the article he is referencing it talks about the IAEA providing the facts related to 2 months to a nuclear bomb. Even the international community is aware of the clear and present danger Iran presents.

http://www.brucelewis.com B Lewis

The thought of Iran or any other Muslim state being armed with nukes is terrifying. Contrariwise, I don’t care if the Israelis have a nuke in every closet in the country.

The difference: Israel is run by civilized human beings, not by a crew of psychopathic foamers whose deepest beliefs come from a religion created by a throat-cutting nutter.

Rebecca

wow! You are gutsy! I don’t disagree.

Johnny Paycheck

Yes, so “civilized” they stole a bunch of land from people who had lived there for centuries, locked them up in a concentration camp and made their lives an oppressive nightmare.

But, hey! Sean Hannity and Rush Dildo say “israel, israel, israel, we can’t make it it israel fails, blah blah blah”, so they must be right.

Yes, Hamas and Hezbollah are terrorist organizations. But they are, in a sense, fighting terror with terror. You have to when you are fighting the most dangerous, nuclear-armed, “Rogue Nation” in the world: ISRAEL.

Crystal

Tis better to be silent and thought stupid than to speak up and remove all doubt! It amazes me that so many people do not know the facts about Israel, and keep sticking up for barbaric terrorists!
Fact No.1: NO part of Israel belongs to the Palestinians, not one parcel of land!
2. The so-called “Palestinians” are Arab rejected Jordanians.
3. The so-called oppression you’re talking about is “so bad”, that Israel gives them food, medicine and supplies if they really need it.
4. When Israel turned over the West Bank to the Palestinians, the “grateful” Palestinians destroyed all businesses and property that could have benefited them!
5. You can also thank Israel for some of the greatest technology, militarily and commercially, that is being used world wide! 6. The greatest amount of Noble Peace Prize winners came from Israel!
Israel has been reaching out to the Palestinians for a long time, trying to make peaceful solutions, but it’s hard to make peace with an Muslim ideology that hates Israel as much as they do and follows a deceitful book like the Koran that calls for it’s followers to destroy any and ALL infidels! And that includes YOU! Unless of course, you’re a Muslim… because in case you haven’t noticed… only Muslims help Muslims, no one else!

Donald

quoting the daily mail,israeli media an blasting muslim states,don’t i can read anymore

rahmad

are you kidding?

freedom

the arabs can kill each other with no affect.the one horror of the middle east that most do not understand is that america keeps a kind of ballance between israel and arabs. when america can no longer back israel it might lose and be forced into the ‘sampson option’. the arab will truly know on that day that god is god.

Manonfire

Really JohnFromIreland? You KNOW what the IAEA is saying about Iran? Here’s the link for their reports on Iran. Let the readers on here see for themselves – from the IAEA’s own reports – that Iran is indeed becoming an incredibly dangerous and unstable country.

Just another mom

And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. – Genesis

It is speaking of Israel, of course. And don’t forget the fact that yes, God does allow things to happen to His people but in the end Israel conquers their enemies.

Sue Day

Thank you for this excellent essay.

DM

The Heavenly Father says that “He will plunder those who plunder the poor.”

God showed a prophet recently a vision of a multibillionaire sitting down with his head in his hands weeping because he had lost everything.

Unless those in power repent and change the ways they are making money, they will lose everything.

God is not mocked. He will not be laughed at. He will not be ridiculed. A person reaps what he sows. A person cannot cause poverty in the lives of millions of Americans and not expect to receive poverty in their own lives.

God’s Word says the wages of the workers who are being exploited by the wealthy are crying out to Him. God, Himself, will ensure that justice is done.

Evidence of this is the insanity of our leaders (government, business, media, etc). Instead of fixing the problems, they are doing nothing. They expect the economy to bounce back if they just sit and wait doing the same things they have done in the past. Not! Spiritual laws are being broken which are bringing on curses.

America has prospered because our founding fathers understood these spiritual laws. They obeyed those laws which brought on the blessings of God. Not so today.

I pray that our leaders will get advice from godly Christian economists who know something about biblical finances to turn this situation around.

Gary2

I am trying to save the souls of the rich by advocating taxing them hard.

They should be grateful to me.

Lets see them go through an eye of a needle.

Rhinehart Fox

Gary, did you flunk math in school? How many times do you have to be told that 100% taxation of all U.S. income would not cover our debts? Everyone who reads this blog knows you hate the rich although you seem to make a lot of allowance for all the millionare democrats in congress. Your diatribes were once a bit amusing. Now they are just old and predictable.

Paul

Need to add some epidemic, where people don’t go out to shop or work.

Perhaps two interwoven epidemics.
One related to food to make people weak and malnourished, then a virus.
Maybe flooding after the drought, with waterborne disease.

http://lnx-bsp.net/ Tel

Famine.

The horseman who lends his power to the other three.

Paul

Have the e-coli from Europe reach the tent cities of the US.

Have the cases clog the emergency rooms and ICUs, and then have another influenza strike.

NUF

Seems to me that the 10 Tipping Points you list can be boiled-down to at most 3:

3)Other: Drought & Fukushima – I’ll be charitable and give the benefit of the doubt that these were/are “unplanned” events.

Finally,after all we’ve been thru, you put “Syria” as the top of the list for global implosion… Uuuggghhh????
Is this a joke?

Have a nice day.

Marks2Much

Actually, there’s a fourth one to add to your concise list:

4) Speculators driving up the price of oil and commodities.

It never fails how these “financial experts”, like the author of this article, always manage to conveniently fail to mention this one.

http://lnx-bsp.net/ Tel

How can speculators drive up the price? The speculators are taking a guess at future prices, if they are wrong and oil prices are just a bubble then the speculators will lose money, because all bubbles eventually burst. If the speculators are right and oil prices really do stay high then the speculators did not drive the price up, it was driven by the market.

Why do people consistently believe that speculators have mystic powers to control prices? The only things that control prices are supply and demand (and sometimes government regulation and tax).

karen

I with out a doubt believe you about a food shortage, drought, floods, extreme heat, gmo crops failing, Texas a dust bowl, midwest areas dust bowl just like the dirty 30’s just resesarch for yourself. History ALWAYS repeats its self, I get USDA reports sent to my e-mail and massive areas in the US are getting goverment aid because of extreme weather, they are disaster areas.

Ken

You have a great website. I like your fact-based articles. Keep up the good work. You are waking up a lot of people

Michael

Thank you for the compliment Ken

Hopefully by working together all of us can help wake people up

Michael

Economist

It is mathematically impossible for the US economy NOT to collapse. The Federal Reserve has 2 options: 1) stop printing money & let the economy collapse in a deflationary spiral, wiping out all the big banks & raising the value of the money of those who saved or 2) print money to prevent that, crushing the people under inflation. It will choose choice 2 as that will allow martial law to be declared & the bank survive. Eventually, choice 2 will lead to violent revolution.

Good luck suckers!

http://lnx-bsp.net/ Tel

They could in theory print exactly the right amount of money to balance the system precisely between debt deflation on one hand, and price inflation on the other hand. I believe that is what they are attempting to do, and it’s a fine balance, they could easily screw it up.

Mind you, keeping the inflation/deflation situation balanced does not fix the structural problems, but it’s probably worth a try.

Economist

I forgot.

Tipping Point 11) Earthquakes! The earth is going through a surface destabilization period caused by the sun. Add in major earthquakes to the collapse. Should be a fun next few years!

Soitends

You are being optimistic thinking there will even be a next few years at all IMO.

Joe

Yeah. You’ve noticed the years get shorter and shorter as you grow older too? Soon, they’ll all disappear in a puff of smoke too!

Raymer

The IAEA confirmed that there is no evidence that Iran is creating nuclear missles. Iran lets inspectors into their nuclear facilities, whereas Israel doesn’t. In fact, Israel is the only country in that region that has nuclear missles and does not allow inspectors insider their facilities. This website needs to stop their propaganda about Israel being so wonderful.

Raymer

The RAND corporation is a typical think tank that is there to promote U.S. warfare. Their comments are not credible.

Rev. Reggie Jackson

Yes, Obama’s and Congress financial reform law was not only a total joke; but also a great deception. Obama knew from the very beginning that it wouldn’t work. He knew that he was told by his New World Order puppet masters and kingpins to ride this lie and deception out as long as he could.

And it worked! Now we have gas prices that is putting more economic pressure on Americans; and the loss of 100,000 jobs per month that is adding to this American nightmare. And they are doing this to destroy the American middle class and to have us all in a depression in 2012.

And they are doing this to create their solution; a One World Economic System; where there will be surf (the poor) and the super rich; which is them. These devils will be frying and crying in the worst parts of hell. Their tormentings will be 10 times worse; than your average lackey New World Order slave.

Mariposa de Oro

“So are our leaders doing anything to prepare for the coming economic crisis?” ~Yes they are. They are setting up the police state and it’s control grid.

005

Good article. This goes along with what I’ve been thinking the past few years. One writer put as a pile of dynamite with several fuses; with the pile getting larger and larger just waiting for a fuse to be lit.
In the meantime (to me anyways) it just seems this “tick..tick..tick..” is driving everyone and everything nuts.

mark

We need to prepare for the coming economic and possible food crisis. You cannot depend on a broke government to feed you. If you have the funds purchase long term food storage that will feed you,your family and your unprepared neighbors. You wil need your neighbors to survive. Try to organize preparing with your neighbors. At least you will see which ones still think with their brains and will be helpful in a crisis. Grow a garden or learn the skills and have the tools, seeds and other items needed. Get out of debt! Have some of the basics like durable shoes and other clothing. Fuel and water stored where permited. There are many more things that you will need depending on how bad things could be. Think these out and plan for if a crisis comes to pass, it will be to late to prepare when folks panic.

McKinley Morganfield

I agree with your premise, it won’t take much to start the panic that collapses the global economy. When we fall down they all fall down.

“When the U.S. dollar dies and our financial system collapses we are not going to be able to get all of the things that we need from the rest of the world so cheaply any longer.”

The price of all imported produces will immediately spike 10-20%

“What is eventually going to happen in this country is going to be so nightmarish that most Americans could not even imagine it right now.”

Couldn’t agree more. Stay in touch with family and trusted friends and get to know your neighbors. We’re all going to need someone to watch our backs and vice versa.

http://placeofrefuge2012.com Refuge2012

Yes all 10 items are very very true, even a congressman says to get out of the cities.

There’s no doubt in my mind that Syria’s end game is to draw attention away from their inner troubles and turn it towards Israel. If you give your people a common enemy, they stop their infighting and change the direction of their hatred… look at Iraq and Afghanistan when America became the common enemy. Even Americans would do the same thing if someone invaded the country too, even if it too would be a false flag.

Fukushima is a nightmare and suffers from not only media attention fatigue (which I think is about 4 days, 5 days tops before newspaper ADD kicks in), but how can they report that every single bite of food going into your mouth has been bathed in radiation? Nothing is beyond radiation’s reach, especially after swirling around in the upper atmostphere and coming down with the rain, not seafood, not land food, not milk, not grains growing in the sun, and certainly not drinking water…nothing escapes it.

I truly believe that there has been a long-term plan to turn America into a helpless, pablum-sucking country…lead by the Federal Reserve Families. I found an excellent article at the following website on exactly who these families are and their agenda. It is called the “Federal Reserve Cartel and their Eight Families.” There is a four-part series and is an astonishing read:http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=25080

Finally, as much as everyone warns about the coming food shortages, how can anyone plan by being prudent and saving food if American Food Nazis can come to your house and strip everything from you in violation of the US Constitution or its Amendments through the Executive Orders that have been put into place over the last 50 years? Either that and/or they haul you away on trumped-up charges of hoarding. You will have to dig a pit or put in a fake wall and try to disguise your prudent gathering so that no one can try to take it from you, but they still will and then throw you away. Interesting future we have.

Cam Stallings

Jesus himself said that “these were just the beginnings of sorrows” he also stated that His people would be taken care of. Do you ‘have it all together’ with Him ???

DownWithLibs

I guess this whole America experiment was just too good to be true to begin with.

Gary2

The biggest tipping point is the gross unequal distribution of wealth and income in our country.

History shows that this can not continue, especially as most folks see the system as rigged and unfair. (which it is)

WE can fix it the easy by taxing the rich hard and corporations hard and spreading the wealth not by simply just giving people money but forcing companies to pay a living wage. We should NEVER hear about corporations paying no tax much less getting a rebate.

We need single payer now for health care. It is good to see Vermont lead the way on this, and Connecticut with mandatory sick leave with pay.

The corporations can just make less profit. The rich can just be much less rich.

Or we can do it the hard way with revolution/violence/etc etc etc.

Tim

Do us all a favor and run for Congress. And then see how far your plan to “tax the rich” gets.

bobbobbobbob

Gary2 knows the facts. the rich control the media but a revolution is not coming here it is in china. u do not look up TAX CREDIT FOR US COMPANIES THAT EXPORT JOBS. the us corps are traitors and u hate ob care this century belongs to guess who.??? CHINA RULES

DownWithLibs

Yes, nothing like taxing the Corporations and small businesses hard to create more jobs!!!! Great idea Gary. Really ??????????? Do you even understand what you are typing? Tell me how many cash-strapped businesses have hired you (or anyone else!) for a “living wage” in the past? I’d really like to know.

BillyBob

Sure, DownWithLibs, GE is really struggling; that’s why YOU and I GIVE money to them — because they’re in the poor house and obviously not making profits off of their Chinese slave labor.

Same with the oil cartel: you HAVE to pay outrageous bonuses to attract attention, and to afford that, you have to raise prices for RECORD PROFITS EVERY YEAR!

Many people have been saying for years that you can’t have an economy built on negative equity, credit and debt. Many people have been saying for years you need physical, tangible assets. Nobody listened.

People laugh at me for hoarding copper and silver coins. In another few years I will be laughing at them with their worthless plastic, worthless degrees, worthless broken down vehicles and worthless houses.

coltm4

I beg to differ about our leaders not planning(and I know you probably know this already), our leaders are preparing and have been. I know several guys who are truck drivers and have been delivering loads of food and other items to underground bases, several, several loads this year alone, so yeah they planning alright, planning to leave us out in the cold. GREAT website, keep up the good info, maybe we can wake up some of the Shombie’s…..

mondobeyondo

Yes. Syria.

It’s more important than many of you may think. They are right on Israel’s doorstep, and if there is a serious uprising in Damascus, Iran and its allies (Hezbollah, Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood) could eventually take over. Just like they are trying to do in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya.

Watch Iran. They are trying to become the powerhouse of the Middle East. Iran’s influence in Lebanon is well known, and now they’re trying to push into other Arab countries as well. They even want to create a “peaceful” nuclear energy program (it’s peaceful, as long as they don’t load nukes on their missiles, ha ha!). And nobody is keeping them in check…. except Israel and maybe the US (but Obama’s starting to get wet feet about Iran).

BillyBob

But Israel can have total secrecy with its nuclear program and NOT have IAEA inspectors? The nation who attacked the USS Liberty 43 years ago to this day? You’re kidding me. What a double standard. The sad thing is, there are hundreds of millions in this country that AGREE with that notion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlUbg3rUGrU Smash the Control Machine

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Matthew 19:16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
20 The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?
21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.
22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

Mark 10:17 And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?
18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.
19 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.
20 And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth.
21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.
22 And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.
23 And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!
24 And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!
25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

Laticia

Disappointing article. Basic point is well-taken, and we’re approaching collapse. But your understanding of politics is not as sharp as your economic insights. For example, according to 16 USA intelligence agencies, and according to a former head of the international atomic agency, Iran is not even close to having nuclear weapons. The allegations are patently as true as they were for the Iraqi WMDs. Rand Corporation is not a real think-tank, but a mouthpiece for the neo-cons and their masters (the Rothchilds and Rockefellers).

My advice: study a bit more politics before writing about it, or you’ll much harm your credibility and your laudable efforts to prevent economic collapse and dictatorship in America.

Michael

Laticia:

I didn’t claim that Iran had nukes.

What I said was that it was being claimed that Iran has nukes and that potential war with Iran is drawing closer.

Big difference.

Michael

El Pollo de Oro

Michael T. Snyder writes: “the worst economic times that America has ever seen are ahead.” Sadly, that is absolutely correct. Gerald Celente describes the economic horror that lies ahead as The Greatest Depression, meaning that it will be even worse than The Great Depression of the 1930s. The future is looking incredibly grim.

There’s a saying in Spanish: “podemos hacerlo por las buenas, o podemos hacerlo por las malas.” Essentially, that means, “We can either do things the easy way, or we can do them the hard way. We can do things the nice way, or we can do things the not-so-nice way.” And The White Shoe Boys and bankster thugs that Gerald Celente, Ron Paul, Alex Jones and Paul Craig Roberts warn us about have no desire to do things the nice way. They want the neo-peasants to be poor, hungry, hopeless and just plain desperate so that they will work in their sweatshops for slave wages. The White Shoe Boys want The Banana Republic of America (formerly the USA) to be a Third World country and want the same thing for Europe, Australia and New Zealand. But The White Shoe Boys should be careful what they wish for because desperate people do desperate things. Life can get really nasty when so many people are desperate and hungry.

“You’re going to see crime levels in America that are going to rival that of a Third World country. Welcome Mexico City. You’re going to start seeing people being kidnapped in this country like they do in other underdeveloping nations. It’s going to be very violent in America.”—Gerald Celente

In a lot of Third World countries, desperately poor people collect what I call the DPDDTT: the Desperate People Doing Desperate Things Tax, which isn’t really a “tax” per se but rather, involves things like kidnapping, carjacking and extortion. Kidnapping is absolutely pandemic in the Philippines, Mexico, Brazil, El Salvador, Guatemala, Papua New Guinea and Venezuela, all of which are examples of countries in which DPDDTT is collected by very ugly and harsh means. And DPDDTT will be a fact of life in the BRA when things go from bad to worse. If you have a gun, be sure to keep it in a safe, secure place because you’re going to need it for self-defense.

The you-know-what is getting ready to hit the fan, and it won’t be pretty. In other words, we’re seriously screwed in The Banana Republic of America. God help us.

Gary2

I really appreciate your insight. Thanks

VegasBob

Banksters are the parasites of the world. Their business model is to siphon off wealth produced by the people by collecting interest on borrowed money.

The fundamental fact is that the world economy cannot afford the interest costs charged by the banksters.

Interest payments have become a form of extortion. Except for Iceland, governments everywhere are now held hostage to the banksters.

Until the nations of the world begin to rise up and and tell the banksters to go to h*ll, there is no hope of any economic recovery.

Otown Right Guy

Don’t worry. Buy mutual funds! Dave Ramsey says sell your gold (to his advertiser) and buy mutual funds. They have done well in the past so surely they will always do so. Just like real estate!

I prefer the mindless pablum; it surely does feel better than guessing which of the 10 deadly sins will do us in.

http://www.Freedom-and-law.org Torsten

A list of 24 tipping points:
(1) Stock or bond market major crash.
(2) Steadily increasing inflation, to hyperinflation–the final collapse of the fiat currency fraud.
(3) Mass rioting due to lack of jobs, and hunger–the “nine meals to anarchy” rule.
(4) Widespread rioting due to Wall Street, bankers & crony government looting the people.
(5) Escalating pilfering, drug, or racial gang wars, with the breakdown of police authority.
(6) Widespread rioting due to the final–and insufferable–government oppression.
(7) Prolonged electric grid failure due to overload, defective equipment, or terrorist attack.
(8) Crop failure due to draught, locusts, beetles, or virus.
(9) Interruption of the supply of goods due to strikes, as by dock workers or truckers.
(10) Major hurricane–as Katrina but especially if it were to flood NYC and/or DC.
(11) United States formally admits it is bankrupt, and cannot pay its debts.
(12) Foreign war, or other cause, that interrupts or greatly curtails the supply of oil/gasoline.
(13) ‘Dirty,’ or anthrax bombs in major US cities, or a dramatic increase in terrorist’s attacks.
(14) Air or other bomb strike against the Capitol or White House.
(15) Major earthquake that strikes L. A., San Francisco, or the central U.S.
(16) Prolonged and successful attack by foreign government that ‘neutralizes’ the Internet.
(17) Tsunami (large) that strikes either the Atlantic or the Pacific seaboard.
(18) Electro-magnetic Pulse (EMP) caused by coronal mass ejection (CME). Last
occurrence: Sep. 1, 1859. It will knock out satellite transmissions & the entire electric grid.
(19) Assassination of top U.S. politicians (or coup d’ etat [or attempt] by the police or military).
(20) Major volcano anywhere in the world that creates sufficient dust to impair crops,
or possibly a lesser eruption that buries a U.S. city such as Seattle.
(21) Meltdown of a nuclear power plant in the U.S.–especially if near a major city.
(22) Deadly human virus mutation that goes pandemic.
(23) Asteroid–even a small one–that devastates a major local city.
(24) Immense rain, California 1861-62 (10 feet in a few weeks) Inland sea 300 X 20 miles.

Gary2

I nor anyone I know regardless of political party gives 2 shits about the middle east. Let them kill each other if that’s what they want. I do not care.

Why do so many people keep obsessing about Israel/Syria etc. Who Cares.

OLDVET

IMPROVISE-ADAPT-OVERCOME—-SEMPER FI

the Beast

I beg to differ on your descriptions of the tipping points. It is not Syria, nor Iran, nor Libya that is threatening the war that would escalate into a global war, but rather the US.
The US does these things:
1. Maintains bases in the Middle East such as Bahrain and Kuwait, has close relationship to evil powers in that region like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and last but not least Israel.
2.Invaded Iraq and Afghanistan and maintains a military presence in these two regions that caused massive destabilization.
3. Intermittently attacks a sovereign nation like Pakistan
4. Continue destabilizes east Asia by provoking China through its actions with Taiwan
There has not been a generation in the US that had never seen its country invaded or occupied other independent countries.
Did Libya, Iran, Syria ever do such things?
Your federal government and its corporation backings are the true evil. They are the beast prophesied by John.
Check your facts better….

mondobeyondo

“May you live in interesting times”…..

Hey, wait a minute! You said “interesting” times, not dangerous and perilous times! I want my money back, fortune teller!!

Okee-dokee, let’s flip the coin!
People like Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill, perhaps another John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., – would be perfect for times like these. We need a true leader, now more than ever.

Unfortunately, there isn’t one.
The U.S. needs a real leader. Barack H. Obama isn’t the one. That should be plainly evident by now. The American people THOUGHT he would be. Oh well. *sigh*
Neither is Sarah Palin. Or Mitt Romney for that matter.
The times we are in, and We The People who are living through them, are crying out for a true leader. Someone who would fix – or at least stop for a moment – this Mess we are in.

So who will it be? Ron Paul? That would be nice.
But the sad truth is, his airplane will get shot down before it ever lifts off the ground. The mainstream media considers him to be a joke. And since most Americans listen to mainstream media, they consider him to be a joke as well.

mondobeyondo

Whew, I knew this one was coming…….
====================

Dear Secret Service,
Re: My previous post regarding Ron Paul.

It was intended to be a metaphor, nothing more, and not to be taken literally. Let it be known, that I wish no harm to any member of Congress or the Senate. I would never think to have Senator Paul suffer such a fate as to succumb to a plane crash.
I hope you will understand, and that no threats or harm to the Senator or his family were intended or implied, in the context of my post.
—————————–
(Gotta cover your azz, y’know!)

BTW.. what the hell is happening to this country? You can’t even express your opinion without being threatened?!?! Ewwwww.

Michael

Mondo:

Did you really get a notice like this?

Michael

mondobeyondo

No, not really. But it does make a nice metaphor for where this country could be headed…

http://healthyprotocols.com Lou

Make it ONE problem much worse than a tipping point. This ONE problem tips whenever it wants and is in almost total indirect control.

The owners of this world are behind and have engineered almost all of your tipping points. Yes even drought, flood and famine have been engineered by the Powers That Be.

How can they do this?

o Total assets 300 Trillion dollars equivalent
o Ability to buy or replace KEY people in KEY positions worldwide. DSK is being replaced, he could just as easily have been killed if required. MANY were such as US Senator Paul Wellstone.
o Thus Total control of MOST large governments including the USSA
o Control of Banking gives control of economies. The induced mode is now CRASH
o Control of the USSA Military
o Control of HAARP and sister installations gives weather control and weather weapons
o Control of Fort Detrick gives control of bio-weapons, diseases such as AIDS and our coming Political Pandemic
o Control of Big Pharma gives control of the bio-weapon of “vaccination”

Unless we the people KNOW who is our enemy and WHO is causing these problems we are finished.

Perry

Mark,

Thank you for your constructive suggestions for dealing with the coming collapse on a local/personal level. It would be foolish to think that there is an alternative solution that doesn’t involve a major collapse of our unsustainable economic system. Even if most of today’s 10 items are somehow avoided, the collapse of the dollar will happen. Ponzi schemes always collapse. $14 trillion in the hole and accelerating like an out-of-control runaway train heading down the mountain. The crash won’t be pretty. Start preparing now.

People need to stop wasting effort on pointing fingers at scapegoats . . . this house of cards has been decades in the making and none of our elected officials wanted to tell us the truth. The wealthy need us to keep fighting between ourselves over our ridiculous ideological positions instead focusing our wrath on them as they plunder the riches of the nation and eliminate the middle class.

bobcat

The exclusion zone in Japan will eventually be at least as large as the exclusion zone around Chernobyl. That means pretty much the top half of Japan.

It is reasonable to expect similar long term death toll.

One can only wonder why they have not begun the construction of a sarcophagus over each of the failed reactors which continue to spew radioactive material.

I like this website and I agree with many basic premises put forward by its author. But let’s face reality here: The U.S. is being bankrupt by MILITARISM and TAX LOOPS FOR BILLIONAIRES. Even is you support pointless wars like Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, etc., it would be nice if the biggest, baddest military in the history of the world could procure a single VICTORY while bankrupting our country.

Nate 70

I would have to agree with another poster, I think Pakistan may be a huge tipping point. Especially, since it boarders China. China and Pakistan are cementing their ties while the US and India are cementing their ties. Given the nuclear possibility and the economic competition by a majority of the countries involved, that could be a major tipping point. Especially if the US continues with military incursions into Pakistan. God forbid if we invaded.

Hans Zandvliet

In general I agree that we are still waiting for the soon to played out economic and societal collapse that will pale the Great Depression.
However, I believe that various of these 10 tipping points are exagerated or far fetched, will others aren’t mentioned.
Syria and Yemen don’t produce significant amounts of oil to send shockwaves across the globe. Even Libyan oil production, which has already come to a halt, didn’t (yet) produce the economic meltdown I’m eventually expecting.
Nate 70 mentions Pakistan and he’s quite right about that. Another country to watch carefully is of course Saudi Arabia: if the shit hits the fan there, we can expect oilprices to explode instantly.
Fukushima is bad news, but far worse to the world economy is the deep interdependency between countries to produce all sorts of products: we’ve already read news about car factories in the US an the UK who had to slow down their production due to missing parts from Japan. The earthquake and tsunami happened in March, so it didn’t have much influence on the economy during the first quarter of this year, but in July we will hear about the second quarter and we’re not going to like it.
Another point worth mentioning is that 2011 marks the year of the first baby boomers to retire, while the pension funds MediCare and MedicAid are grossly underfunded. Those liabilities are even severalfold bigger than the already unbearable debt.
Drought and food shortages could have been detailed better. The world’s food reserves are down to just a few months. If this summer turns out to be as disasterous as last year (remember the wildfires in Russia, which sent food prices skyrocketing), we’ll be talking real food shortages and famines (while the US converts one third of its corn production into agro-ethanol for our cars…). On top of the tragedy of (watching) people dying from hunger, this could triger wide spread social and political unrest around the world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlUbg3rUGrU Smash the Control Machine

And in my vision the horses and their riders appeared to me like this: the riders wore breastplates the color of fiery red and sapphire blue and sulphur (brimstone) yellow. The heads of the horses looked like lions’ heads, and from their mouths there poured fire and smoke and sulphur (brimstone). A third of mankind was killed by these three plagues–by the fire and the smoke and the sulphur (brimstone) that poured from the mouths of the horses. For the power of the horses to do harm is in their mouths and also in their tails. Their tails are like serpents, for they have heads, and it is by means of them that they wound people.” (Revelation 9:17-19; Parallel Bible, KJV/Amplified Bible Commentary)

Most Bible scholars have had great difficulty in understanding this passage, as this army is described by the Apostle John in a manner which is not absolutely clear to us. Before we attempt to ascertain the meaning of this description, let us go forward in Revelation, to the point where we see this army coming up to the great River Euphrates.

“And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way [road] of the kings of the east might be prepared.” [Revelation 16:12].

In this Vial Judgment, we see that the Euphrates is dried up for the specific purpose of allowing the “Kings of the East” to cross with their 200 million man army. Wow, the Kings of the East. What country is East of Israel that is capable of fielding a 200 million man army? There is only one country: China.

When you count their Militia, in conjunction with her active Army, China can field an army of 200,000,000 men!! In the last several decades, China has enforced the draconian decree that each family can only have one child. Since the traditional Chinese culture prefers boys over girls, Chinese parents have quietly been killing girls so they can get pregnant again to have boys. China is now in the situation where she has tens of millions more men than women. “This sexual imbalance will result in an excess of over seventy million young men in China by the year 2000, with no women for them to marry … This situation could fulfill the prophecy of John about the two-hundred-million-man army from the East that will fight in the Battle of Armageddon.” [“The Signature Of God: Astonishing Biblical Discoveries”, by Grant Jeffrey, Frontier Research Publications, Inc, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 1996, ISBN 0-921714-28-9, Page 198]

If we understand that this army from the East, totaling 200,000,000 men, is Chinese, then let us look at the difficult passage in Revelation 9:17-19. We are told that the riders of these “horses” wore breastplates of “fire, jacinth, and brimstone”, we have to ask ourselves what kind of colors would this be?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlUbg3rUGrU Smash the Control Machine

“And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.” ( Joel 2:30-31; Parallel Bible, KJV/Amplified Bible Commentary)

The place of which this prophecy is speaking is the Middle East, after Israel has come back to her land. God is foretelling that, before the “Great and Terrible Day of the Lord” comes — which is the 7-Year Tribulation Period — the region is going to suffer warfare whose effects were puzzling until the advent of nuclear warheads: “… wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke …”

Nuclear warheads certainly create “pillars of smoke”, and they certainly produce fiery conditions hotter than the surface of the Sun! Nuclear explosions also kick up into the atmosphere enough dust as to make the Moon turn red, and even blot out the Sun at midday.

“And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlUbg3rUGrU Smash the Control Machine

The sun is red over here in Kansas from the Arizona fires!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlUbg3rUGrU Smash the Control Machine

When you count their Militia, in conjunction with her active Army, China can field an army of 200,000,000 men!! In the last several decades, China has enforced the draconian decree that each family can only have one child. Since the traditional Chinese culture prefers boys over girls, Chinese parents have quietly been killing girls so they can get pregnant again to have boys. China is now in the situation where she has tens of millions more men than women. “This sexual imbalance will result in an excess of over seventy million young men in China by the year 2000, with no women for them to marry … This situation could fulfill the prophecy of John about the two-hundred-million-man army from the East that will fight in the Battle of Armageddon

bill

this and much more awaits America! Thanks to the world trade organization, and free trade. Many of you dont know who the first president to propose so called free trade was? It was ronald reagan. Free trade with china was first implemented with china under bush sr, then newt and the republicans that controlled house and senate pushed nafta on clinton, and he went along. Big money deregulated the banks and big oil. Next bush jr normalized free trade with china, as he cut taxes and started 2 unfunded wars. Where did they think America would go with no jobs and with huge debts by unfunded wars? This was because of lobbyists and campaign donations. Our politicians work for corporations, not for the good of the people. Until we get rid of lobbyists and corporate or large campaign donations our govt will not work for the American people, which is the fundamental problem hat caused the other problems, but no politicians are able to break the hold big money has over our politicians. Until we are “of and for the people” again America is doomed!

http://AKForum JT

If you’re lucky enough to have some savings w/o a family to support, one still doesn’t know what to do. Take your money and start buying precious metals, in my case it would have to be Silver. I’m already taking money out of my savings and stashing it but that still leaves on not knowing what to really do. I’m seriously considering purchasing a 250cc used motorcycle that gets about 75 miles p/gal, really need something that gets twice that mileage but it would be hard pressed to do 50mph. I’m 58 not in great health w/o readily available health care and meds, I might as will throw a going out party. Go to a Casino, throw myself a $50K party, if I some how I double or triple my money put off suicide for a while. Take half of that money and but some Gold.

moses737

JT you should be getting prepared to go home to God by giving your life to Jesus Christ; so when they come to get you so they can put their mark of the beast chip in your forehead or hand; you will be prepared to reject their antichrist beast chip and go home. For the International Bankers/Illuminati beast will try to force us all to take their zombie making mark of the beast chip that is spoken about in Revelation 13 and 14. And Revelation 14:9-11 says that if you take it; you will be tormented in hell 24/7, because it will mean that you have joined and sided with Satan and his antichrist beast leader, and leaders.

Fred

Very good article.

http://www.globalresearch.ca Marlena Heidenreich

So are our leaders doing anything to prepare for the coming economic crisis?

No, they are too busy with other things.

=====

Yes they are though.

1. They are building free housing! Prisons and Internment Camp projects are at record levels, fully staffed may of them, and ready for the throngs of protesters and filterees which must end up in that system, housing for the poor.

2. They are beefing up the “security” establishment form the cop on the street, to the upper level military for stateside use to control them, and situations which will come rolling across the country.

Funny. Today we received word that we lost our triple A rating. How, you might ask. Because of our governmernt raising the debt ceiling by more than a TRILLION DOLLARS!!!!

Mr.Black

I have a feeling that the events of the Fallout series will become true, and if so, I think it’s awesome.
I hope we all die in a nuclear fire, and those who are spared will rape and murder eachother.
**** humanity, just **** it.